A MODERN PILGRIM

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 538, 14 October 1949, Page 14

A MODERN PILGRIM

LEBANON: IMPRESSIONS OF A UNESCO CONFERENCE, by M. H. acer Caxton Press, 9/6. ‘THis book, as its sub-title implids, is a personal view of an international gathering, the Unesco Conference in Beirut late in 1948; it is obviously not of the same stature as Holcroft’s essays. But it is sane, clear afid encouragingencouraging, that is, to those of us who hope for something good from the comity of nations finding a corporate shape.. It is informative in the best sense, telling us, besides many unexpected facts (for instance, that 53 per cent. of the Lebanese are Christian), a good deal about the formal machinery of a United Nations gathering, a good deal more-often vivid and excitingabout the human side of international meetings, and, willy nilly, something about the author -himself. The shrewd estimate of the value of some of the Indian delegates’ contribution to the discussions ("practical interests were precariously balanced above vast and formless aspirations’), the sketches of character (Bodet, Julian Huxley, Sir John Maud and many others), and the descriptions of things seen in a country full of poverty, aspiration, colour and beauty show an alert and sensitive observer making the most of his material and his opportunity and setting*’out his discoveries with lucidity and wit. Holcroft comments on the misgivings that inevitably assail delegates whose efforts were based whdlly on the assumption that peace would be maintained. "There is a compulsion for good as well as for evil ... efforts which seem to be wasted when the cause is lost are preserved in an essential way in the real world that exists outside time. Or if that be a belief which requires metaphysical supporttheat cannot be supplied in these pages, it can at least be said that the men and women who have made the attempt are the better for the striving." That is well stated. : New Zealand has, I think, given greater support relatively to Unesco than to any other of the United Nations specialised agencies. Our delegations have been strong in more than numbers; and, as it is in this field that we have perhaps most to contribute, in it we have. contributed most to building up, by the sharing of practical tasks, an international understanding based on common aims, common trust, and-let it be said-common love. Without the love of humanity international gatherings have no meaning. As Holcroft writes: "I have seen in the eyes of a beggar, squinting *at me in the African sunlight, an argument so powefful that it could overturn in a moment the finest theory of an academic peacemaker."

David

Hall